Welcome to the Société Générale conference call. Frédéric Oudéa, Chief Executive Officer, and Claire Dumas, Chief Financial Officer, will present the group's Q4 and full year 2022 results. At any time during the presentation you may press star and one to enter the queue for the question and answer session. Thank you for holding. The conference will begin shortly. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Société Générale conference call. I will now hand the conference over to Mr. Frédéric Oudéa, Chief Executive Officer. Sir, please go ahead.
Good morning to all of you. Thanks for attending this conference call. The format is the same as the previous ones. With Claire, our CFO, I will present very briefly our results, and then you will have the opportunity to ask questions to our full management team, which is sitting with me. Hopefully, you have the presentation with you. Let's start immediately with the first slide three. Well, needless to say, 2022 was a very intense year for us, with many achievements, many things in parallel, which were completed. Clearly, the timely execution of our different milestones for the merger in the French networks. This new bank is now up and running legally from the first of January.
The last remaining important step is the IT migration, which will take place in the first half. Second, clearly, the great success with the development of Boursorama. You will see some figures, they are impressive. On top of that, we are also pursuing two very important projects to create world leader, one in the mobility sector with the acquisition of ALD. More recently, we announced the creation of a joint venture in equity research activities named Bernstein. We will come back to that, too. At the same time, we pursued also our progress regarding ESG and the capacity to enshrine these objectives in the strategies of all our activities, as well as pursue our digital transformation and improve our operational efficiency.
Of course, let me just remind you, but you have that in mind, that we were able to quickly adapt to the Russian situation by efficiently divesting our Russian subsidiaries. It meant, again, as I said, a very demanding and intense year. If I look at the slide 4, when you have our results, it is also a very successful year with a record level of underlying results of EUR 5.6 billion for the year, leading to underlying return on tangible equity at 9.6%. The reported results stands at EUR 2 billion, of course, including the impact of the sale of our Russian subsidiary in the Q2 .
You will see that we have had a strong growth of our revenues, with record level of revenues for financing and advisory activities, for market activities, as well as for ALD. Very strong performance in international retail and private banking. In the French activities, we had a good level of revenues despite, as you know, and we will come back to that, the specificities of the French market in such a scenario of a brutal and quick increase of interest rate and inflation. We remain very disciplined on the cost. You will see that both for the Q4 and the full year with the cost income ratio, excluding the Single Resolution Fund contribution, standing at 61% for the year, well below the initial target that we had announced.
The cost of risk stands at 28 basis points for the year as well as for the Q4 , with a low level of defaults at 17 basis points. You will see that the overall stock of provisions, S1 S2 provisions stands at EUR 3.8 billion, highest level ever, even above the peak of the COVID period. Regarding the distribution and capital, based on this very strong financial performance, better than anticipated, I must say, the board has decided for our current distribution level, which on one hand is, was, and is for him a fair remuneration of our shareholders, given the specific nature of 2022.
On the other hand, with a great opportunity to further strengthen the Common Equity Tier 1 ratio, and that led to a proposed distribution split between EUR 1.7 dividend per share paid in cash versus EUR 1.65 last year, and a share buyback program of around EUR 440 million, equivalent to EUR 0.55 per share, i.e., half the one last year. It leaves also fed with a strong capital generation, led by the results to a very strong Common Equity Tier 1 ratio at the end of 2022, 13.5%, more than 420 basis points above the MDA. Needless to say, we confirm our target of 12% post Basel IV at the end of 2025. I will be very quick on the site 5, 6, 7.
Happy to answer your question. Again, ESG is a major objective for us. You have a series of sites which illustrates, on one hand, all the new initiatives, the rate ambitions, and the rating of the bank, which is according to all the rating agencies and among the best in this sector. Actually even ShareAction, ranked us 2 among the top 25 biggest banks, regarding our policies and practice to fight deforestation, biodiversity conservation being also a new area of strong focus. Beyond this, we would like to highlight that, we really are putting our staff, embarking our staff in this journey with a lot of training and, of course, developing adequate services and products for our clients.
I will turn the floor now to Claire, who will go through more in detail, our financial results.
Thank you, Frédéric. As you pointed out, the group delivered a very strong operating performance across businesses in 2022. At group level, the underlying gross operating income, which reached EUR 10.1 billion in 2022, is up 19% versus last year and 40% versus 2019. This strong performance was driven by positive tools. Underlying revenues have increased in all our businesses compared to last year. At group level, they're up 9.3% versus 2021. At the same time, costs remain contained with an increase of 4.5%, mainly explained by three items. First, the increase in contribution to the SRF for EUR 278 million, which accounts for more than a third of the gross cost increase, around 1.6%. Second, the impact of foreign exchange rate for more than EUR 200 million.
Third, the increase in variable compensation in line with enhanced performance. Overall, the underlying cost income ratio, excluding SRS, improved by more than 3 points versus 2021 at 61% in 2022. It's better than the last guidance we gave in Q3. Well below the initial one given in early 2022, which was between 66% and 68% for 2022. For 2023, we have decided to adopt a similar product approach as last year, given the uncertain macroeconomic context in terms of inflation rates and GDP growth. Therefore, we are providing at this stage the same guidance as last year, namely an underlying cost income ratio excluding SRS between 66% and 68% in 2023. Note that this guidance is notably based on normalized reviews in global markets.
With regards to Q4, slide 10, the group delivers another solid set of results like the nine previous quarters with a reported net income around EUR 1.2 billion in Q4. At EUR 2.2 billion, the underlying gross operating income is up by 15% versus last year and around 35% compared to 2019. Tools are strongly positive, thanks to another solid commercial performance by the businesses and continued disciplined cost management. Despite the inflationary context, the underlying cost-income ratio, excluding SRF, decreases to 65.4% in Q4, which means 0.5 percentage point lower than Q4 last year and 7 points lower than 2019. Turning to the cost of risk, slide 11. It remained contained in 2022, despite the more complex and uncertain environment.
At group level, the cost of risk stands at 28 basis points, both in Q4 and in 2022. That's landing below the annual guidance of 30-35 basis points. Overall, the asset quality is sound. The NPL ratio stands at 2.8% at the end of 2022, and the gross coverage rate is around 48%. Adjusted for the State-guaranteed loan, the coverage ratio is above 51%. For 2023, we reiterate the same cautious guidance and expect the cost of risk to be between 30 and 35 basis points given the quality of our credit portfolio. Let's turn to the next page, slide 12. As illustrated in this chart, defaults remained broadly stable in 2022 versus last year, both in nominal terms and in basis points at around 17 basis points, despite the tougher environment.
Regarding the Q4 , which is traditionally impacted by seasonal effects, such as in 2019 and 2020, the amount of Stage 3 remained contained at 23 basis points, despite the impact in France of a well-known specific corporate. At the same time, we maintained a prudent provisioning policy through the year by significantly increasing the precautionary provisions on Stage 1 and Stage 2 assets, which represented around 40% of the total cost of risk in 2022. At the end of 2022, the total outstanding of Stage 1 and Stage 2 provisions reaches EUR 3.8 billion. A few words now on our Russian offshore exposure, slide 13. As you can see, the exposure at default of this portfolio decreased sharply in 2022. It's down by 45% compared to the end of 2021, thanks to a continuous sound level of repayment flows.
While the residual exposure at default amounts to EUR 1.8 billion at the end of December, we now consider that the net exposure at risk is below EUR 600 million before provisioning. This residual risk is already highly covered by a total provision of EUR 427 million. With regards to Rosbank, the residual exposure is negligible and below EUR 100 million at the end of December. Let's now turn to capital and liquidity. Slide 14. At the end of 2022, the group posts a very solid regulatory quarter one ratio at 13.5%. It's now around 420 basis points above the MDA. This significant increase in Q4 mostly results from strong quarterly organic capital generation of around 45 basis points post-provision for the 2022 distribution, as presented in the introduction.
Overall, the group can leverage on its solid balance sheet with all ratios comfortably above requirements. With regards to funding, the group took advantage of favorable market windows to further progress under good conditions in the 2023 funding program. At the present time, around 60% of the funding program has already been achieved. I will now turn to slide 15. Let's now turn to the business and start with the main 2022 achievements of the French retail activities. Slide 17. Thanks to the strong commitment of the team, decisive steps have been reached in 2022 in the implementation of the strategic roadmap in France. Regarding the merger of the French retail networks, all the key milestones have been timely and successfully completed. Similarly, the deployment of the target operating model has progressed as planned.
This is all the more satisfying as it has been made alongside a solid commercial performance, with notably a rapid growth in fee-based revenue in line with our strategy. The level of fees recorded in 2022 has reached the highest in the last four years, at 8% versus 2019. The private banking division also had a very satisfactory year, achieving a record commercial performance while continuing the transfer of its operations to ALD, with a full successful migration of the Swiss practices and IT operations. Regarding Boursorama, Frédéric already mentioned a strong acceleration in the client acquisition growth with 1.4 million new clients in a single year, positioning Boursorama as a definitive leader in online banking in France. More specifically, on the merger roadmap, slide 18.
It's still progressing as planned on all fronts. The legal merger has been effective since the first of January. We have successfully launched the new bank in all regions. We are now fully focused on the next step to ensure once again, timely deliveries in 2023, which is a key year for the merger. On the IT front, we approaching with confidence the end of the preparatory work to ensure the success of the two IT mergers in the first semester. At the same time, from Q1 onwards, we will start the rebranding and the merger of our branches, as well as the start of the employee mobility program. Alongside these strategic steps, we intend to maintain, as in 2022, strong commercial momentum, with in particular the ambition to further strengthen the client base in core segments and to maintain a high level of fees.
Let's now look at the business performance in the French network and private banking. Slide 19. On the credit side, momentum remained overall constructive this quarter in France, despite a challenging environment on the retail side due to the impact of the usury rate. The total loan outstanding grew by 1.6% in Q4 versus last year, notably thanks to a 2% growth in corporate loans. The home loan outstanding is slightly up by 1%, which is consistent with the voluntary selective approach in production we adopted in H2 to limit the impact of the usury rate. On the deposit side, both sides and regulated deposits with retail clients continued to increase in Q4. On the contrary, as expected in a rising rate environment, we have seen a decrease in corporate-side deposits, notably due to a shift towards in-house treasury products.
Overall, deposits decreased by 2.6% versus Q4 last year. On savings, despite negative mark-to-market impact on a yearly basis, we experienced resilient life insurance outstanding and private banking assets under management. In life insurance, growth in flow amounted to EUR 1.8 billion, in private banking, asset gathering base was 2% in 2022. Finally, premium in P&C were up by 4% in the quarter, personal protection continued to rise by 3% in Q4. Let's turn to Boursorama, slide 20. With 1.4 new clients in just one year, 2022 was another record year in terms of client acquisition, thanks to both strong organic growth and successful onboarding of ING clients. In addition, the acquisition costs continued to decrease.
Having reached more than 4.7 million clients at the end of 2022, we now expect the client base to be above 5.5 million by the end of 2023. In terms of commercial activity, Boursorama posts another strong growth both in banking assets and savings. Loans outstanding are up 14% versus Q4 last year at EUR 60 billion. Deposits and financial savings increased, respectively by 43% and 31% versus Q4 last year, bringing the combined outstanding close to EUR 49 million. As illustrated by the continued significant increase of the day-to-day banking operations, which are up 44% versus Q4 last year, Boursorama is more than demonstrating that it's a real bank used as a primary bank by a high percentage of clients. In terms of P&L, slide 21. Revenues are stable versus Q4 last year.
Net interest margin and other is down by 1.8% versus Q4 last year. This is mostly due to the negative impact of both regulated savings and usury rate, whose impact has been partially compensated by TLTRO benefits. Fees increased by 1.9%, stripping out the impact of the client acquisition costs, the increase in service and financial fees is 5% on average. Regarding underlying costs, they are moderately up by 2.4%, but down by 0.7% if we exclude the impact of the provision for exceptional compensation to employees, which was paid in January 2023. This contained evolution of costs in an inflationary environment perfectly illustrates the continued efforts made on the cost base. Overall, the underlying ROE comes to 11.6% in 2022, and 13.4% excluding Boursorama.
Before moving on to IBFS, a few words on the 2023 outlook for French Retail. 2023 will clearly be a year of transition with a negative trend in revenues, despite expected continued solid commercial momentum for several specific reasons. First, the end of the TLTRO will result in a decrease in the 2023 revenue base by approximately EUR 0.3 billion compared to 2022. The specific functioning of the French market, notably due to the regulated savings and usury rates. While the hedging policy implemented in pretty uncertain times to hedge the net interest margin will deprive us in 2023 of the benefits of the replacement of deposits. These hedges will mature starting 2024-2025.
After an expected drop in revenues in 2023, we anticipate a first rebound in 2024, with revenues at least at the level of 2022, and then a complementary rise in 2025. Moving to IBFS, slide 22. The various businesses have further reinforced their positions in 2022 and delivered strong commercial performance in line with the 2021 ambitions, aiming at unlocking the potential of our leading subsidiaries in their respective markets. Several of our international banks have also been awarded for their excellence, both in Europe and Africa. With regards to our insurance activities, we have further gained market share in life insurance, notably in France, and increased our penetration rates. On mobility, we successfully achieved major steps towards the creation of a leading global sustainable mobility player, which are detailed in the next slide.
As you can see, slide 23, the acquisition project is progressing well. ALD Rights issue has been completed with success in December for EUR 1.2 billion. Clearance from the ECB and the main antitrust authorities has been received. At this stage, we still expect the closing of the transaction by the end of Q1. Let's now have a look at the performances in international retail banking, slide 24. Commercial activity continued to be well oriented across the region in Q4. In Europe, loans are up 5% versus last year, with good momentum in the corporate segment in Czech Republic. Deposits remain stable, thanks notably to robust growth in Romania, which offsets the slowdown in Czech Republic. In Africa, the rebound has definitely been confirmed, both for loans and deposits, which increased by 7% and 6% respectively.
Overall, international retail banking posts once again solid revenues in Q4, which are up 8% versus last year. The satisfying performance is notably driven by higher net interest margin in Europe, 9%, but also by good momentum in Africa, both for net interest margin and commissions, which are both progressing nearly 10% versus last year. Regarding insurance and financial services, the performance remains strong with a ROE above 30%. Insurance revenues are still solid, with 11% increase versus last year. Net inflows in life insurance are positive, with a still high share of unit-linked products. Protection premiums are up by 5% compared to last year, supported by an 8% increase in P&C premium compared to last year.
For financial services, revenues increased by 38% in Q4, thanks to a continued strong contribution of ALD on the back of both good primary activity with a continued increase in funded fee by more than 3%, persistently strong contribution of used car sale results, and an adjustment in the depreciation method in line with current higher car values. Overall, 2022 is a record year for ALD. A few words to conclude on IBFS with overall profitability reaching 24.3% of the daily ROE. Shows are positive, with an increase in revenues of 17% at constant perimeter and foreign exchange versus last year. Despite the inflationary context and the impact of the preparation cost for the integration of LeasePlan, costs are trending at a significantly lower pace, which led to a further improvement of the cost-income ratio at 48%.
Moving to GBIS, I'm going to succeed for the rest of the presentation. I'm sorry, slide 27. 2022 was an outstanding year with strong performance across businesses, which generated more than EUR 10 billion in total revenues for the year. We are successfully delivering on all the strategic objectives listed on the slide that we presented to you in May 2021. As evidenced by the profitability achieved in 2022 with a ROE above 19% excluding SRS, this consistent execution of our roadmap is the foundation of and already generates sustainable value creation. Let's now spend a little bit of time on this great deal with AllianceBernstein, slide 28. This transaction will allow us to create a leading global player in cash equity and research. This is a very well-matched partnership in terms of geographic mix, client base, and products.
Thanks to this combination, we will have global reach with more than 1,000 stocks covered worldwide and get access to more than 1,000 additional institutional investors with a highly relevant product mix. This transaction is very creative, with high potential of revenue synergies, both with institutional investors and corporate clients. It's totally consistent with the strategy of GBIS as it's capitalized business with predictable fee-based revenues. Turning to GBIS, slide 19. Total revenues are up 19% versus last year at EUR 1.2 billion. On a yearly basis, global markets touched a record revenue level at comparable business model for GFC, with a EUR 5.9 billion revenue contribution, which is up 17% versus 2021. Overall, equity activities performed well in 2022 in a constricted environment.
They took their best results on record since 2009, with total revenues of EUR 3.3 billion. Last quarter, the activity remained solid with a contribution above pre-COVID levels. On fixed income, this is also the best results on record, with a EUR 2.6 billion contribution, up by nearly 40% versus last year. In Q4, revenues are up 56% versus last year. The fixed income platform continued to benefit from a favorable environment, notably thanks to rate volatility. Last, with security services, results were strong in Q4, partly due to the reevaluation of our holding, Euroclear, for EUR 91 million, which follows on from the EUR 77 million already recorded in H1. Excluding this one-off effect, security services NBI was up 14% in Q4, thanks to higher rates and good resiliency fees.
Financing and advisory, slide 30, also delivered an excellent performance in Q4 with a record quarter and a record year for both global banking and advisory and transaction banking. Revenues are up by 17% versus last year at EUR 956 million, and by 15% on a yearly basis at EUR 2.4 billion. For global banking and advisory, dynamics remain strong in asset finance, natural resources, and asset-backed products, combined with strong risk management performance. On the contrary, in line with fees, investment banking is still negatively impacted by the significant decrease in volumes in capital markets. Overall, this is a remarkable performance given the country for capital markets. On transaction banking, the performance continues to be excellent across all activities and geographies, which translates into a significant revenue growth of +68% compared to last year.
Overall, slide 31, GBIS delivered once again an excellent quarter with strong positive yields, resulting in a significant 5 basis point decrease of the underlying cost income ratio, excluding SRF, to 61.1%. The performance is driven by a steady revenue growth of more than 14%, combined with a stronger discipline. In terms of profitability, GBIS delivered a strong underlying ROE of 16.3% and a goal of 19% excluding SRF. On the corporate center, slide 32, revenues are impacted this quarter by the fair value of the hedging instrument performed on the equity of our subsidiaries. In addition, there is a base effect compared with Q4 last year, related to the revaluation of EUR 109 million and EUR 17 million made last year on one asset.
These two factors mostly explain the year-on-year change in both the year-on-year quarterly growth operating income, which stands at minus EUR 0.5 billion in Q4, and the net results. Over the full year, the corporate center's net result is impacted by the transformation charges for EUR 639 million, but above all, by the impact of the sale in Q2 of our Russian subsidiaries. I will hand the floor to Frédéric for the conclusion.
Thank you very much, Claire. Just a few words of conclusion. This Q4 is actually the 10th quarter in a row of strong performances of all our businesses. We look at the full 2022 year, despite the impact of the disposal of our subsidiary, it's a year of value creation. You can see on the slide that we have now a tangible net asset per share of EUR 62.3, up compared with last year, and of course, 2019. It's my last yearly result presentation.
When I look at our 2022 results entering into 2023, I'm convinced that we have built very solid foundations for our group. I'm convinced that the group will reap the fruits in the coming years of our different strategic projects, which are ongoing and about to be completed. We confirm as such, and as we said, our financial objectives for 2025 presented last year in August. In an environment with still a lot of uncertainty from a geopolitical, economic and financial point of view, 2023 will obviously be a year of transition for the group from a governance perspective.
First of all, as Slawomir Krupa will take over as CEO at the end of May, and Slawomir and myself, we've been working to ensure the smoothest and most efficient transition as possible, it works very well. Transition too, of course, because we have this year to complete a certain number of key projects. From a financial perspective, with, as commented by Claire, on one hand, the remaining negative impact that we expect on our French retail market with a new bank, with, which will benefit from a rebound of its revenues in 2024, 2025. On top of that, of course, the benefit of the merger in the coming years.
On the other hand, it will be under my tenure that we will pay the last contribution to the Constitution of the European Single Resolution Fund, which has been a drag, as you know, on our profitability for several years. We'll be happy to turn this page. That's it. Now we are ready to answer your questions. As usual, if you could stick to this good discipline of two questions per person. Floor is yours.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, please press star and 1 on your telephone keypad. Please ask your questions in English. The first question is from Flora Bocahut of Jefferies.
Yes, good morning. The first question is regarding the capital trajectory from here. Could you just remind us of all the impacts that we should expect from here? I have in mind that you have previously guided for regulatory headwinds from a TRIM of 30 basis points. I think there's the LeasePlan acquisition due in Q1 for 40 basis points. Obviously, the Bernstein acquisition in Q4 for 10 basis points. I think IFRS 17 is expected to be close to zero impact. If you could just, you know, update these and let me know if I forgot any in here. The second question is regarding the French retail banking revenue outlook for 2023 and also for 2024.
Maybe, you know, you provide us with some of the moving parts for 2023, but you used to give us a %, decline or % growth. Is that something you would be ready to do for 2023? For 2024, I think you just said, Claire, in your introducing remarks that, you think 2024 revenues will be about the same as 2022, not above. If you could just clarify this. Thank you.
Yes. Hello, Flora. I will turn the floor to Claire for your first question on capital and then to Sebastian for your question on French retail. Claire?
Hello, Flora. Regarding capital, I think that you have most of the moving parts. For 2023, we anticipate, as you said, regulatory impact related to TRIM and IFRIC there, about 40 basis points for zero. We also anticipate M&A impact. We have, as you said, LeasePlan, which is around 40 basis points, we confirm the guidance. Regarding Bernstein, around 10 basis points. For the year after, we still have the Basel IV impact, that's all.
Thank you. Sebastian?
Yes, Flora, good morning. Coming back onto the revenues for the French retail, as Claire explained, I mean, 2023 will be this transition year in terms of revenues with the French retail activities impacted by the specificities of the French market and especially regulated savings rates. We had a strong increase in regulated savings rates in 2022. The rate for the Livret A was multiplied by 4 in 2022 and another increase in February 2023. Depending on inflation and rate movement, we could expect another increase during 2023. It puts a lot of pressure on the margin on deposits.
If you add how specific the French market in terms of repricing of loans, both on outstanding and on credit production, you understand again why we would have this pressure on the NIM in 2023. Keeping in mind that, as Claire said, we will not have the benefit of the CRR anymore, and we have this hedging policy which will mature progressively between 2024 and 2025. Having said that, I will not give a magic number for 2023. We'll get back to you during the year, and especially at the end of the Q1 . I confirm that 2024 will be at least at 2022 level.
I'm saying at least and, potentially, above with another rebound in 2025.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question.
The next question, sir, is from Delphine Lee of J.P. Morgan.
Yes, good morning. I just wanted to follow up on Clara's question on French retail. I'm just wondering, it just feels like if you have 2022 level for 2024 in French retail revenue, it sounds like you don't get much impact from rates, which is a bit surprising because you do have sensitivity to rates. Just trying to understand a little bit the contribution we should expect from the move we've seen in the market on rates. Where should that come through? How much a year can we expect? I think some of your peers have given a bit more quantified, you know, guidance, if you could help us on this. My second question is on the payout ratio.
There's been some press articles talking about ECB inviting banks to kind of, you know, caution on prudent payout. Is that reduction in the payout ratio to 37%, you know, sort of, coming from the ECB, or just wanted to get some color on this. What can you tell us about your commitment for future years? Is that still 50%? In terms of mix, do you still prioritize dividends over buyback? Thank you very much.
Yes. Delphine, hello. Good morning. Again, I will let perhaps either Claire or Sebastian comment. Again, understand there is first of all, a series of parameters which play volumes, credit production, deposit volumes, et cetera. A series of assumption, as Sebastian commented. Clearly, we have some big impact in 2023, as Sebastian said, and with I think very reasonable assumption, and with the maturing of the hedging policy, we are comfortable to say, yes, decline of revenue this year, and again, the rebound in 2024. Happy to again further elaborate. We can't say more because we need, as Sebastian said, a little bit more visibility on certain of these parameters to be a bit more precise. Regarding the distribution.
Listen, again, it was, of course, a subject of reflection for the board at year-end, as we said previously. Given the specificity of this year, where, again, strong, very strong underlying, but at the end of the day, still an impact of the Russian subsidiary.
In a year transition, in this idea to prepare the bank as well as possible with the most robust foundations to enter into 2023, there was the feeling that probably the best option was, again, to decide at the end of the day, a relatively limited reduction of the share buyback to compensate actually more or less for the impact of the capital, on the capital ratio of the sale of Royal Bank, 20 basis points, to be able to have a 13.5% of Tier 1 ratio at year-end, much above, I think, the expectations of the market and give full confidence of the trajectory going forward.
We still a good remuneration for our shareholder, EUR 1.7 in cash, EUR 440 million of share buyback. The policy is unchanged and the board does not change the policy, but took into account, I would say, the specificity of this transition moment and also the specificity of the year to adjust a little bit the distribution. Going forward, we stick to 50% of underlying profit. Same thing in terms of share buyback. I hope that step by step, the share price will go up. It's clear that the benefit of the share buyback will still remain. That's why also we are very happy to be able to complete the share buyback program last year in good condition.
The idea is to maintain this. There's no, there's no change in our policy. There was really the specificity of the year.
Thank you.
Next question.
The next question is from Tarik El Mejjad of Bank of America.
Hi, good morning. Just two questions, please. First of all, on the cost income guidance for this year, I think Claire said that this is based on normalized global market revenues. Can you please clarify what do you mean by that? Do you think that this peaked in 2022 and we need to go back to something more normalized and as lower? Then the second question is on the French retail. You mentioned, Frédéric, that there are a few assumptions, but I didn't hear your comment on the lending growth in France. What assumptions you have baked in in your 2023 guidance and do you see room for positive surprise on that front, given potentially better sentiment from households on the macro and so on, given as things getting slightly better? Yeah, that's it.
Thank you, Frédéric, for all these years, and good luck for the rest.
Thank you very much, Tarik. Thanks a lot. I will leave the floor to Slawomir to explain how you think about normalized revenues and in the budget process in particular. Then, Sebastian, keep in mind, and you will see that in 2022, we were very disciplined in the production of loans with a potentially negative margin, in particular in mortgage. So I think it makes sense to be... First of all, Slawomir.
Good morning. Very simple. We gave guidance through the cycle of the stage for global markets revenues ranging from EUR 4.7 billion-EUR 5.3 billion.
After the print this year at 5.9, we do expect, at this stage, things can change, of course, a normalization. You should look to the guidance as the guidance for what normalization means, basically. Then of course, depending on the market trends, et cetera, if there are opportunities to be captured, we will obviously capture them, and we will also be resilient should things be more choppy. At this point in time, we think, things have normalized and they remain, you know, reasonably uncertain. We remain cautious, but not pessimistic.
Thank you. Sebastian?
Yeah. Good morning, Tarik. Regarding credit in terms of outstanding and production, maybe 2022 was in terms of loans outstanding a year with a solid growth, +1.6% and above 3% excluding PGE. As you know, the projection of credit was impacted in 2022 by the different specificities of the French market as we already said. Especially for home loans in Q4, the production declined by 64% compared to Q4 2021. Regarding 2023, if I take the different segments regarding corporate credit production, we aim obviously at keeping our good commercial dynamism, and production margin should progressively improve during the year.
Regarding home loans, we believe that even if the usury rate is now calculating on a monthly basis, it will remain a constraint during at least the first half of the year. A better level of production and production margin, volumes and production margin could be reached in H2. Regarding consumer finance, production was stable in 2022 compared to 2021. We intend to slightly improve both volumes and margin in 2023. Please remind that consumer finance is also impacted by the usury rate specificity of the French market.
Thank you. Next question.
The next question is from Guillaume Tiberghien of Exane BNP Paribas.
Yes, good morning. I have two questions. The first one is on Boursorama. The second one on capital. On Boursorama, if I remember well, the idea was to go from minus EUR 100 to +EUR 200 at the net level. I was wondering whether that translate into +EUR 500 million at the revenue line, give or take. If so, what's the pace of it? How much do we get in 2023 and then 2024 and then 2025? The second question is on capital. You seem very comfortable with your current buffer above MDA. When you list all the headwinds, you're still only at about 11.3% under Basel IV. Your change of policy on dividend shows that you're a bit tight.
How do you expect to reach 12 in two years under Basel IV? What does that mean for your RWA growth? Thank you.
Hello. I will let Philippe answer your question on Boursorama, but I can tell you I'm so disappointed on your capital, on personal capital. I would have thought that with an additional 50 basis point, you would have been happy with it. Well, listen, I know. Seriously, I mean, we have now, again, 13.5 420 basis points. We are going to generate capital, by the way, every year. This year particularly it was very good, but we are confident in the capital generation.
If you do your math, we are able to finance a very adequate organic growth to our businesses and more than meet the 12% cohort one at the end of at the end of 2025 for post Basel IV. Really happy to enter more in detail in the math, but and sticking to this policy, I would have expected, no question from you on this, but I come to tell me, we you will have to deal with that even more. I think the idea to be frank of the board in the distribution decision was really to put the capital at a good level to put aside any question going forward.
Yeah.
Maybe one-
Yes.
If I may, Guillaume, maybe one more comment, Slavomir speaking. It's. Think about it as balance. I think Frederic explained this very well, saying, the board seeked balance in the year, which was very specific, I am sure you have noticed, and in which the performance ended up also the underlying performance very strong. I think in this context, the board seeked to find a balance between all of the various items, so to speak, in the performance. That had nothing to do with tightness, in terms of capital trajectory.
Okay. Thank you. What RWA growth do you model? In Q4, you actually released accrual for dividend because you had EUR 2 billion at Q3, and then you only pay EUR 1.8 billion. In Q4, the capital was held by some release as well. What RWA growth do you model for 25 per year?
We've not disclosed that figure. We will have in mind, if you wish, something progressive in terms of organic growth with a better evolution of the economic activity and also see the certain of our businesses. We have something very for this year, overall pretty similar to what we had historically, nothing more, as I said, in an environment where credit growth should not be that spectacular. Then an acceleration going forward. That, again, it's Salomie will also look at this when he will take over and look at that in detail. That's nothing very different, if I may, and we are able to finance our organic growth pretty decently, yeah.
Thank you.
your question on the revenues of Boursorama and the net profit, we can talk through the whole, the idea, the trajectory, and then how it translates in NBI. Philippe?
Yes, thanks for the question. As you know, our strategy with Boursorama, I would say are three axes. The first one, it's to continue to take advantage of the good client acquisition momentum, which was obviously very strong in 2022. The second one, of course, it's to develop, increase the profitability per clients. One of the very important metric this year, for example, is the increase of the assets under management. An additional EUR 14 billion in the balance sheet and off balance sheet of Boursorama. This is a very important number.
I could also mention other important metrics for us, the number of products sold, the number of card transactions, the number of insurance contracts. The third important point is to continue to reduce the acquisition cost by client. As you can see on the slide, it has been reduced by two since 2016. Between 2022 and 2021, it has been reduced by 20%. All these components, of course, will act positively on the revenues on the cost basis of Boursorama. Again, we confirm the guidance, you know, profitability in 2024, EUR 200 million net profit in 2025, with a return on equity above 25%. Thank you.
Next question.
The next question is from Amit Goel of Barclays.
Hi. Thank you. Just a follow-up, a couple of questions on the capital, and then on some of the top line French retail pressures. In terms of the capital return policy, and if I'm thinking about the dividend, for, you know, 2023, are you looking for kind of steady growth from the kind of EUR 1.70 level, I guess given there aren't any other incremental capital headwinds? Secondly, on terms of the top line pressures, I mean, is there, you know, is that still a little bit better now versus what you were thinking at the end of last year with some changes to usury rates, or, you know, is that basically just as strong as what you were previously anticipating?
Thank you.
Yeah. Hello. Good morning. Brief answer to your question. The idea is by definition to avoid any negative evolution of the dividend. It was factored in the reflection. Again, yeah, EUR 170 is in progress versus last year. The decision for 2023 will be taken by the board, of course, we had 2023 also in mind. In terms of the pressure, I think it's similar. I think there's no change. As we said, usury rate a little bit adapted in the calculation. As Sébastien said, the benefit might be more in the second half than in the first half. Livret A a little bit lower than what the maximum we could have, but we talk about 30 basis points.
It's still a very big increase. We expect further increase in terms of August. If you wish, all this was already there. Of course, then the rate inflation is something where we all look at, and we will see where it stands. No big change. As I said, we are disciplined in terms of credit origination because going forward, if you generate low margin, it can stay for long for mortgage. I think we have the right policy, and we do as much as we can, as we've said, to be dynamic from a commercial perspective, in particular fees. Private banking has done remarkably well, by the way.
I think I would like to highlight this, and we want to pursue, but at the same time, being disciplined in terms of credit origination with still this, complex equation for at least the next first half.
Got it.
Yeah. Yeah.
Just small follow-up. Is there any TLTRO hedge unwind cost as well in the first half of this year?
We adjust the hedging as we said, some we will have effectively to adapt the hedging with the TLTRO that's factored also in our forecast overall. Again, no comment specifically on this. The hedging is part of the issue is the projection, because we have a policy to hedge, again, some of the swaps will of course mature progressively in 2024 and 2025, that will help the rebound. Next question.
The next question is from Kiri Vijayarajah of HSBC.
Yes, sir. Good morning, everyone. Just a couple of questions from my side. I noticed in a couple of your retail divisions, France, Czech Republic, seeing some contraction in deposit balances. Really, what's the driver there? Are you seeing a switch away from deposits into other product areas? Is it a more worrying trend where households, SMEs are having to run down cash balances? You know, just some color there. Is it more of a trend or just maybe a bit of a blip? On CIB, you know, after the Bernstein deal closes, I wonder, Slavomir, are there any other product segments or geographies, you know, where you think a bolt-on deal might make sense for the strategy in CIB?
Is it more a case that, you know, the Bernstein thing was just an opportunistic deal that sort of came your way, and we should think of that more as an outlier rather than a kind of, trend to think about going forward? Thank you.
Yes, Kiri. Hello. I will let Sebastian comment on France, and you will see it's corporate deposits, not household. Same thing, Philippe, on his own geographies. Then, of course, Slawomir on the strategy for CIB and bolt-on acquisition. First, Sebastian.
Yes. Yes, good morning. In terms of deposits, for BDDF as a whole, taking in track on private banking, I mean, French networks, private banking, both for about quarter-over-quarter, it's up 1.5%, and on the French network, it's down 2.6%, -2.6%. There is no surprise here because in such an environment with a very abrupt and sharp increase of interest rates, the decrease in deposits comes from corporates, which reduce their excess side deposits, so to speak, to benefit from higher yields. That's something which is again not a surprise. For 2023, our thinking is the following.
For individuals, we can expect deposits to continue to grow, probably with some shift towards regulated savings, and especially Livret A, whereas side deposits should stay more or less stable. For corporates, after Q4 2022, the range of offers of term deposits has been completed to maximize our on-balance sheet offer. Nevertheless, off-balance sheet products could also be attractive for corporate customers and therefore generate arbitrage between on and off-balance sheet products. That's the assumption for the deposits in 2023 on the French market.
Yeah. Philippe, on the other geographies?
Well, yes. On the Czech Republic, yes, there is a slight decrease of banking deposit. It's mostly a shift, which, you know, makes sense, to non-banking assets under management. In the case of KB, there is an increase of +6% of the outstanding on the non-banking assets. Which demonstrates that there is, you know, a shift from the client. These deposits, you know, of course, they are not generating a net interest margin, but they are generating fees. Regarding the overall geographies, Romania and Africa, actually, there is a significant increase of the deposit outstanding in all these countries.
Thank you. All in all, I think in the group, deposits are slightly increasing. This is something which is of course, monitored. Slawomir.
Good morning. Bernstein didn't come across our way. It was a, you know, deeply strategic move that we took quite a while to make happen the, in a way which we felt was creating value and sustainable value, which is what drives our collective thinking here. It was in probably what was the most obvious gap in our product suite in terms of again, the value chain of both the secondary markets and the buy side of things and obviously on the value chain of the primary markets and equity chain and ability to increase the quality and the depth of our clients'.
Business on the issuer side and corporate side. Should we have other opportunities of the kind which are, again, deeply enhancing the value chain and creating value, we would look at them. But as I said at the beginning, I do not feel that we have obvious gaps to fill today. This is how I think about it right now.
Thank you.
Great. Thank you.
Next question.
The next question is from Matthew Clark of Mediobanca.
Hi. A couple of questions. Firstly, on the GBIS cost plan, I think you had EUR 450 million of cost saves planned from a couple of years ago. Could you just confirm how much of that has already been achieved in 2022? How much is left to come in 2023? A follow-up question on French retail banking revenues and the deposit hedging you describe. I mean, from the outside, it's quite hard to understand a hedging policy where you see nothing in year one, and then it all comes in year two and year three. Is that the right way to think about it, or should we see maturing hedges benefiting the P&L there well beyond 2025?
Maybe you could just explain how you hedge your deposits in the French retail banking division, would be the easiest way to address it. Thanks.
Hello, Matt. I will let Slawomir answer your question. It's not just a one-off situation, and they will be going forward beyond 2025. Of course, also still certain swaps which will mature. I would say the in terms of magnitude, and in particular, before the end of 2021, in a more uncertain environment, it's fair to say we hedged the NIM, the net interest margin, the sensitivity, in the very short term. This will help, if you wish, pretty significantly in 2024, 2025. There will be further swaps, but with less volume, to mature beyond 2025. Slawomir?
Given, you know, very significant outperformance in terms of top line, which carries suite of variable costs, starting obviously with compensation, the right way to look at this is obviously the cost to income. We had objectives in 2021, which were, let's say, around 66% excluding SRF. We are closing the year at 61% with, you know, well above EUR 2 billion of bottom line and an ROE, which is close to 20% excluding SRF, while the objective was 12% excluding SRF.
This is how I think about this, which is massive outperformance of our targets, resilient and regular revenue generation, good risk management, you know, throughout the quarters, especially in 2022, which were, you know, far from being benign. That's, that's how we think about this. As far as the cost reduction plans themselves are concerned, they're mostly behind us. There's, let's say, a small fraction of the numbers that we discussed two years ago, which still to be delivered in 2023. Again, the strongest commitment from now on is that of value creation in terms of operating income, net operating leverage, and good performance in terms of cost to income, obviously in the context of normalization.
Again, as we discussed earlier, we are going to see in normalized markets, we are going to see the global markets revenues decrease towards the guidance that we gave earlier last year.
Thank you. Next question.
The next question is from Anke Reingen of Royal Bank of Canada.
Yeah, thank you very much for taking my question. Apologies. I just wanted to clarify something on the dividend policy again. On the 50%, will that be calculated on the adjusted net profit or the reported post AT1? Have you given any indication about restructuring charges we should expect for 2023? Sorry, again, another one on the dividend. Yeah, it's obviously very important that there was a increase in the absolute dividend per share. Is that something that will drive your capital distribution consideration forward, going forward as well? Thank you.
Hello, Anke. I will let Claire answering on the restructuring charges for 2023. Again, the idea is really to stick to the same policy, adjusted, not reported, adjusted underlying net profit, of course, taking into account the coupon, AT1 coupon, like previous years. There is no change. As I said, it was effectively with an extraordinary year in terms of underlying performance that this opportunity to consolidate the Core Tier 1 at a very strong level, this idea of slight adjustment to take into account the marginal impact on the capital of the disposal of Russia. Then, as you said, have a slight progress on the dividend. Again, every year the decision is made.
You can note that there was, of course, this willingness to increase the dividend, from compared with last year, going forward, the board will have to make a decision, but the idea is to try to illustrate the progress of the bank, which is in our view, pretty clear in the last few years in terms of structural profitability. That's for the board and Slavomir end of 2023. The CTA charge, Claire?
Yeah, very quickly. Considering CTA charges, we anticipate for 2023, the same level as 2022, related to the delivery of our main strategic projects.
Okay, thank you.
Next question.
The next question is from Chris Hallam of Goldman Sachs.
Morning, everybody. Two questions from me. First, on the 2023 cost-to-income ratio guidance, I wonder whether you'd expect to see that ratio worse in the first half than the second, given that in the first half you have the final IT migration on the French network, the non-repeat of the TLTRO bonus and the bonus rate and the usury rate headwinds that you mentioned earlier in the call? That's my first question, just on the phasing of that cost-to-income ratio guidance. Secondly, another one actually on phasing. The 2,800 EUR per unit resale benefit you recorded in ALD for 2022, I think that implies quite a big reduction in the Q4 from the 3,100 that you mentioned at the nine months.
I think there's an accounting adjustment in there on the depreciation assumptions. If we look into 2023, should we be assuming a relatively stable evolution on the resale revenues or will that become a bit turbulent based on that quarterly evolution in the Q4 ?
Hello, Chris. I will let the floor to Joni to comment on the residual value and accounting for ALD. On your first question, difficult to answer. I'm turning to Claire. There might be also seasonality on the capital markets, traditionally a little bit more revenues, which should help in the first half. On the French retail, as we said, yes, that's a little bit better in the second half, but I think it would be relatively marginal. I think the IT migration in itself does not weigh because, you know, it's more on the restructuring cost charges. So I don't think there's such a seasonality, and we will come back to you if there was anything.
No, we anticipate no significant seasonality. The main drivers are, as Frédéric said, the reviews of our businesses and so the main assumption regarding the cost-income ratio is this assumption related to normalization of capital markets. No huge changes in the rhythm.
Again, there's a traditional seasonality on the global market that first half is usually a little bit better than second half. It can vary depending on the environment. Joni, so on ALD.
Yes. Yes, thank you for the question. Indeed, we had quite a strong used car sales results. You mentioned the EUR 2,800. It does take into account the depreciation and the lower depreciation we called it. This is linked to the fact that we have quite a positive view on car sales results and on the market in 2023. We believe that normalization will not arrive before 2024. The market will remain strong as a consequence of past decrease of car sales and scarcity of used cars. Yes, we took additional depreciation that this reduction in depreciation cost this last quarter.
Which means that, all things have been equal next year, it will reduce the used cars sales results for an equivalent amount, all things being equal, because the net book value will be higher as we are taking into account the new depreciation cost. Overall, we are quite positive still on the secondary market of car sales in 2023.
Okay, perfect. Thanks very much.
Thank you. Next question.
The last question is from Jon Peace of Credit Suisse.
Thank you. I'll just add my thanks to Frédéric for hosting these annual calls for the last 15 years. I had a question for Slawomir, please. Can we still expect a mini investor update in the second half of this year, perhaps tweaking your 2025 plan to reflect the Bernstein deal and maybe a higher rate environment as well? I think your 2025 targets are still based off 0 rates. Maybe one for Claire. Can we still use the registration document disclosure for your sensitivity to higher interest rates? Thank you.
Hello, Jon. Thank you for your kind words, and I am turning immediately to Slawomir and Claire.
Hello, good morning. My answer is going to be very quick. Yes, on the first part of your question, and, we'll see when it happens on the second part of your question.
Claire?
Yeah. I think that our universal registration document, the URD, is a very good illustration of what we face on the French market. If you look at the data provided in the URD, we have a positive sensitivity for year one, highest for year two and the years to come. For the plus minus 10 basis points sensitivity. This sensitivity is computed with assumptions which are for this level of sensitivity, constant balance sheets and small increases and decreases in interest rates. It does not capture the very specific items of the French market, such as the potentially sharp increase in the cap on the usury rate that doesn't take place for plus and minus 10 basis points sensitivity.
When you look at the URD, we have different, and significantly different data for brutal shock, which is, if I remind well, ±200 basis points, which is, to a certain extent, more in line with what we face on the French market. These data are significantly lower because in this sensitivity, you capture the negative impact of, for example, usury rate, and this type of impact.
Thank you. Is there any additional questions?
No, sir. At this time, there are no questions registered. Would you like to make any closing remarks?
Okay. No. Listen, thank you very much for your questions and all the best in the coming months. We'll have a last opportunity to exchange for the Q1 results. It was again my last yearly result. Thank you also for the quality dialogue in the last 15 years. Thank you. Have a very nice day. Bye-bye.
Ladies and gentlemen, this has concluded. It concludes today's Société Générale conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.